US-designated terrorist Muhammad Sarwar dies in Lahore

Muhammad Sarwar, a Pakistan-based leader of the Pakistan Markazi Muslim League (PMML) and a US-designated global terrorist linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), died in Lahore after reportedly collapsing while on his way to a mosque.

Lahore: Muhammad Sarwar, designated as a global terrorist by the US Treasury Department, died in Pakistan’s Lahore on Sunday.

“Pakistan Markazi Muslim League (PMML) Punjab President Muhammad Sarwar has passed away. He was on his way from home to the mosque to offer prayers when he collapsed and died,” a PMML spokesperson said in a statement.

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The exact cause of his death has not been specified by PMML. However, 24NewsHD TV Channel reported that Sarwar died “due to a head injury sustained after falling down the stairs”.

PMML is a political offshoot of Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed’s Jamaat-ud-Dawa. Saeed has been in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail since 2019 in multiple terror financing cases, for which he was convicted for multiple years, as per officials.

PMML leaders — Khalid Masood Sindhu, Saifullah Qasuri, Hafiz Talha Saeed, Yaqub Sheikh, Khalid Naik Gujjar, and Muzammil Iqbal Hashmi — expressed grief over the loss of their party leader.

“With the death of Muhammad Sarwar, the party has lost a strong and fearless leader,” said Muzammil Iqbal Hashmi.

Sarwar’s funeral was scheduled to be held at JuD headquarters, Jamia Al-Qadsia, in Lahore’s Chuburji area late on Sunday night.

In 2016, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Sarwar and Shahid Mahmood, another senior Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) leader, as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs).

The action was aimed at disrupting LeT’s fundraising and support networks. OFAC said the two men were designated for acting for or on behalf of the group, adding that all their property and interests in property subject to US jurisdiction were blocked.

“Sarwar and Mahmood of Lashkar-e-Taiba are responsible for raising and moving funds to support the terrorist group’s operations. The action not only aims to expose activities, but also disrupts Lashkar-e-Taiba’s financial network and ability to carry out violent terrorist attacks,” OFAC said at the time.

According to OFAC, Sarwar had been a senior LeT official in Lahore for more than 10 years and had held various leadership roles in the group. He had served as LeT’s Lahore chief since at least January 2015.

As the group’s Lahore chief, Sarwar maintained ties with its senior leaders. Between 2012 and 2013, he worked with LeT’s foreign affairs chief Hafiz Abdul Rahman Makki, who asked him for money to cover travel within Pakistan in early 2013, OFAC said.

Makki was designated by OFAC under Executive Order 13224 in November 2010.

Sarwar’s association with LeT dated back to the early 2000s. In his capacity as the group’s Lahore emir, he was directly involved in fundraising and used Pakistan’s formal financial system to raise and transfer funds on its behalf, OFAC said.

In 2008, Sarwar led delegations of businessmen to LeT facilities to solicit donations for the group. By mid-2009, he was one of two officials heading LeT’s finance wing in Lahore, according to OFAC.